Your daily reminder that basic housing should be absolutely zero fucking dollars because housing should be a human right, and anything above 0% should be criminal.
Anything we humans need for fundamental existence in today’s society should be free to the individual, and be a cost we all pay as a society to respect the existence of other human beings. Anything above that is up to the individual to either provide for themselves, or receive as a result of the value they contribute to society through labor.
That’s my broader belief system, and thus, housing falls under that for me. The better we meet individual’s needs, the easier it becomes for them to contribute back to society, and experience upward class mobility.
I believe that if we are to make housing a right, we can’t even just say it’s a right “unless you have no job,” or “unless you’re unable to fork over $500 a month,” because employment is ultimately up to the discretion of employers, who, even today, don’t even consider most unhoused people for jobs, because they don’t have stable housing, but to get stable housing, those people need jobs. (this even applies to many shelters, which will require unhoused people to either be employed, or be constantly seeking employment)
We know that adding hoops to jump through to get welfare assistance only harms those who need to depend on it the most, without providing any significant socioeconomic benefit, so why should we apply that same logic to housing, if we determine that it should be a right of all human beings?
I’m not saying the housing has to be great. It doesn’t need to be spacious, have all the amenities, or even have things like good quality lighting or good soundproofing from adjacent housing units, but at a bare minimum, everyone deserves somewhere to live.
I believe that if we are to make housing a right, we can’t even just say it’s a right “unless you have no job,” or “unless you’re unable to fork over $500 a month,”
States run by Democrats do it the opposite way. If you can’t afford housing, we try to provide it for you, on the State’s dime. If you can afford it, pay for it. I can’t really agree that it’s fair to offer free housing to those of us who can actually afford it.
Who are the half that make the 7 figures required to not spend half your income on housing?
Did they just fully make up have the surveyed population?
If you move outside the city, shit gets much, much cheaper. Mortgages are easily $1,750/mo ($300k, 30yr, tax + insurance included). If your goal is to live in NYC or Seattle, you will be spending quite a bit on your chosen lifestyle. If your goal instead is to buy/rent an affordable 2-3br home, there are lots of options.
The trades (electricians, etc) pay well and are in demand basically everywhere. The jobs are out there.
Ugh. I get really annoyed when people defend egregious housing prices with the “just live in a shitty place, in a shitty location, in the middle of a food desert, far from economic opportunities, social interactions, public transportation, and you can afford it” argument
Where are you finding a livable home for 300k? I live in a rural area, and I love it here, but you’re never going to find a house for 300k unless you’re willing to put another 150k into stripping it down to the studs and renovating it.
They are rare but they are out there.
I was able to find a home for about $320k about 15 miles from the city. I searched for two years. My interest rate is shit. But hey, I have a house!
It was fully renovated.
I’m not saying the market isn’t shit. Because it is due to fucking investors.
I know I am lucky to have a job that pays well, even though it hasn’t kept up with inflation. I know that this isn’t the case for everyone and I’d be willing to take a hit on my home value if it meant others could buy a home too.
But my neighbors don’t feel the same way.
The last time we moved we actually did this. Kept us from paying more bills to commute longer. I highly recommend figuring out your monthly gas/mass transit bill and adding that to the price of places you’re comparing.
Move far, far outside of populated areas and you don’t even need a mortgage.
You don’t need remotely close to that income level. 200k household income will get you a nice home at a reasonable price.
Oh yeah just 2.5 times the median household income, no problem. Hey while we’re here can I have a million dollar loan?
Never said it was inexpensive. It’s just not nearly as expensive as you all make it seem. 15% of the country does hit this number and 25% are close.
Y’all out pretending nobody is buying houses.
I wonder if it’s net or gross.
Besides, it’s not seven figures, just mid-six figures necessary for that.
$1400/mo, the rough figure from the article, is 30% of $56k/yr. If you made $1m, 30% of that would give you $25,000/mo. How do you figure?
Median household is apparently 80k now. 30 percent of that monthly is 2,000.
In my city 2,000 will rent you an infested place with water damage from the flood a year ago. But if the city comes around you have to pretend not to live there or else they’ll kick you out.
Don’t forget that household income is everyone in the house. So if you are all poor college kids with part time jobs making 15-20k a year your household income will still be close to or at the median, even though each of you are individually really poor
Just to point out, with the median mortgage at $2349 a month, it’s more like you need a household income of $93,000 a year (probably closer to $100k with utilities and other expenses) for your housing costs to equal 30% of your income. That is steep for a lot of people, but still much more attainable than 7 figures. A quick Google says that makes up around 37% of US households as of 2022. Still doesn’t quite add up to their figures, admittedly, unless “nearly half” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
I know that rent has gone up, but you definitely can hack it. I never spent more than 30% of my take home pay on rent. I managed that by looking at places that fit my budget or living with roommates. Pretty much you won’t have very good luck if you’re a single person trying to rent your own place though. In terms of finding places within budget, I always avoided any type of new buildings built in the last five to ten years or so. The cost of those is usually highest. They’ll promise flashy amenities, but it’s usually not worth it. Also, avoid corporate landlords. If you can, find a mom and pop landlord that’s been in business for awhile. They usually have better deals and don’t go up on rent every year provided you’re a good tenant that pays on time and doesn’t cause any stresses for them. You’ll have the best luck with this if you stick to places where people list their own properties like Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, etc. Avoid spots that corporate landlords use like apartments.com.
Edit: Or, don’t. Ignore this advice and pay through the nose. You’ll be renting forever.
We should build and fund more public housing.
Unfortunately, a large chunk of the country doesn’t believe the government can or should do anything, so I guess that’s a difficult pitch to make.
This is the solution. Unfortunately in the United States when most people think of government housing you think of run down slums.
We need to follow the examples of Austria’s social housing. https://youtu.be/41VJudBdYXY
I really liked this, especially since quality, quality of life including ample green space is incorporated. Thank you for sharing.
I actually thought 30% housing was the norm for the past 10 years?
